''The Sound of Music Live'' is a

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

that was originally broadcast by

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 20 December 2015. The special was an adaptation of

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...

's 1959 Broadway musical ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. Se ...

'', starring

Kara Tointon Kara Louise Tointon (born 5 August 1983) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Dawn Swann in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 2010, she won the BBC competition series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', and in 2015, she appeared as ...

Maria von Trapp Baroness Maria Augusta von Trapp DHS (; 26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987) was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She wrote ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers'', which was published in 1949 and was the inspiratio ...

, performed and televised

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

from

3 Mills Studios 3 Mills Studios is a centre for film, television and theatre production near Stratford, London, Stratford in East London. The site of a former distillery in Three Mills became a dedicated centre for television and film production work with the est ...

in London. On 9 November 2018, ''The Sound of Music Live'' premiered in the United States as an episode of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

's performing arts anthology ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...

''.

Production

In October 2015, ITV announced that it would transmit a live adaptation of the musical ''

'' as part of its holiday programming lineup, in what would be the first time that such a programme had been attempted in the United Kingdom. ''The Sound of Music Live'' was part of ITV's continuing efforts to broadcast more live "

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

" programs, which are designed to attract critical masses of viewers by encouraging them to watch via the original broadcast, rather than via

catch-up The idea of convergence in economics (also sometimes known as the catch-up effect) is the hypothesis that poorer economies' per capita incomes will tend to grow at faster rates than richer economies, and in the Solow-Swan growth model, economic g ...

services and

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

s. The desire for increased ITV viewership came especially in the wake of declining ratings for its reality music competition ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'', whose

series 12 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

finale had the second-smallest viewership in the programme's history. ITV had similarly broadcast live episodes of its series ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'' in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

in honour of the programme's 40th and 50th anniversary respectively, and in 2015 for ITV's 60th anniversary. The production was directed live by

Coky Giedroyc Mary Rose Helen "Coky" Giedroyc (; born 6 February 1963) is an English director known for her work on ''Women Talking Dirty'', '' The Virgin Queen'', ''The Nativity'', and ''Penny Dreadful''. Early life Giedroyc was born in Kowloon on 6 Februar ...

and Richard Valentine after six weeks of rehearsal. This was not the first time that ''The Sound of Music'' had been adapted in such a manner. In 2013, U.S. network

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

broadcast its own live television adaptation of ''The Sound of Music'' starring

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005. Her single "Inside Your Heaven" made her the only country artist to debut atop the ''Bill ...

; similarly to ITV's version, it was an adaptation of the original musical, and not based on the

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

. Although it received mixed reviews, it was seen by over 18 million viewers. As follow-ups, NBC produced similar adaptations of ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

'' and ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown (writer), William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's childr ...

'' in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Creative director

stated that ITV's iteration would be a "whole different animal" in comparison to NBC's, explaining that she wanted to "keep it true to the original", and maintain a focus on the political aspects of the story. The production was conducted on soundstages at

in London, with the sets alone having a budget of nearly £750,000.

Cast

Reception

''The Sound of Music Live'' received mixed reviews. Mark Shenton of ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' said it was a failed experiment, with "uninspired and sometimes insipid" choreography and direction, although he praised the cast's performances. Claire Allfree of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' said it lacked both the intimacy of live theatre and the scope of the big screen, but nevertheless judged it "more a success than it was a failure," saying that former ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' star Tointon "brought a refreshing earthiness and grit to Maria that made the passionate, unconventional novice feel thoroughly modern and accessible." '' The Mirror'' said that Tointon was "showered with praise" for her performance. The programme was watched by over 3.82 million viewers according to overnight ratings figures, being beaten by the series eleven finale of ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

'' (5.31 million) and its lead-in, the

BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been i ...

presentation (5.78 million).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sound of Music Live (2015), The 2015 in British television 2015 television specials British television specials English-language television shows ITV (TV network) original programming British live television shows Musical television films Musical television specials Television shows based on plays Television remakes of films The Sound of Music Trapp family Works based on actual events

Production

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links